Recycled your old tee-shirts into a cute handbag. I crocheted this purse using two t-shirts and a part of another for the striping. I added a flower as an embellishment and here is my final result.

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Here is a photo showing how I cut around the tee-shirt to create “yarn” to crochet with. You just continue cutting in one continuous strip and go around corners as shown. If you do need to join two strips, either overlap and weave under your ends or join splicing strips together by either hand or machine stitching the ends together. Another method that doesn’t require sewing the strips together is to make a small slit hole at the end of the two strips you need to splice together. The slit should be cut lengthwise only about ½ inch from the end of the strip and should only be big enough to allow the next strip to pass through it. Hold the two strips with the holes together then take the uncut end and lace it through two holes. Pull the strip completely through the holes and pull tight to make the splice as small as possible.

Have fun with this project by recycling your tee-shirts into a charming eco-friendly handbag. The materials are free and so is the crochet pattern below.

Free Crocheted Recycled Tee-Shirt Bag Pattern

Bag measures 10 inches wide and 9” long with 8” handles.

Material: Three different colored tee-shirts cut into ½ to ¾” inch strips

Hook: Metal “N” hook

Chain 12

Rnd 1
Using blue tee-shirt yarn, Sc in 2nd ch from hook in each chain stitch to end, work 3 Sc in the end st. Work Sc in each stitch down the back side of chain, ending with 3 Sc at end st of round. Do not join rnds. Just continue to work in rounds.

Rnd 2
Sc in each st down to the two end sts. Work 3 Sc in ea of the two end sts and then Sc in ea st down to the other end. Work 3 Sc in the other two end sts.

Rnd 3
Sc in each st down to the two end sts. Work 2 Sc in ea of the three end sts and then Sc in ea st down to the other end. Work 2 Sc in the other three end sts.

Rnd 4
Sc in the front loop only on ea st on this round only. This creates an edge for the bottom of bag. Sc down to end working in front loops only, work 2 Sc in the 2 end sts, then continue down working Sc in ea st in front posts only down to other end. Work 2 Sc in the two end sts of round.

Rnd 5-6
Working in both loops now and throughout, Sc in ea st of rnd. At end of rnd 6, Sl St in last 2 sts of rnd and leave a tail end on inside of bag to […]